Careful Words

charity (n.)

For forms of government let fools contest;

Whate'er is best administer'd is best.

For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;

His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.

In faith and hope the world will disagree,

But all mankind's concern is charity.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 303.

Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

New Testament: 1 Peter iv. 8.

  Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 4.

  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 13.

  With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

An old man, broken with the storms of state,

Is come to lay his weary bones among ye:

Give him a little earth for charity!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.

  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 13.

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

Open as day for melting charity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 4.

  Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 2.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,

His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,

And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 161.

Alas for the rarity

Of Christian charity

Under the sun!

Thomas Hood (1798-1845): The Bridge of Sighs.

  Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 4.

  In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill-will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow-men, not knowing what they do.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848): Letter to A. Bronson. July 30, 1838.

  Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiii. 4.